GENEVA, Aug 30 (Reuters) - The World Health Organization

chief said on Friday that mpox vaccines were set to arrive in

the Democratic Republic of Congo in the next few days to fight a

new strain of the virus.

"We hope to have the first delivery in the next few days,

and then it will build up," Director General Tedros Adhanom

Ghebreyesus told reporters at a press conference. Some 230,000

mpox doses are immediately available to be dispatched, added Tim

Nguyen, unit head of Global Infectious Hazards Preparedness at

the World Health Organization Emergency Programme.

The WHO has said that its partners can start buying mpox

vaccines before they are approved by the U.N. health agency,

lifting its usual rules in a bid to get inoculations to Africa

faster.

It is currently reviewing applications for emergency

licences for two vaccines made by Denmark's Bavarian Nordic ( BVNKF ) and

Japan's KM Biologics. Tedros said these were expected to be

granted in the next two weeks.

Rosamund Lewis, the WHO technical lead for mpox, said

she hoped the vaccines and other interventions by health

partners would help cases come down again in the near future.